Alexis Basque
Course Instructor (Baroque Trumpet/Trumpet; Early Music Ensembles)
Alexis Basque is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Qu茅bec, where he received his formal training in modern trumpet performance and began his first foray into composition and orchestration.
He picked up the Baroque trumpet in 2005 in an attempt to better understand the origins of his instrument and in order to familiarize himself with historically-informed performance practices. He was then able to deepen his knowledge by attending the Mozarteum Sommerakademie of Salzburg with Susan Williams in 2012, and was introduced to the world of natural brass playing while working with renowned trumpet and natural horn players Graham Nicholson and Jean-Fran莽ois Madeuf. The discovery of the practice of instrumental doubling, as commonly seen in the baroque period, compelled him to add the baroque horn and tromba da tirarsi to his arsenal of instruments.
Alexis is an avid performer of Baroque music, playing and recording regularly with Montr茅al鈥檚 most active and innovative ensembles, including the Ensemble Caprice, the Bande Montr茅al Baroque, les Id茅es Heureuses, the Theater of Early Music, la Nef and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montr茅al. He also performs with various orchestras at Bourgie Hall as part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts鈥� multi-year project of presenting the complete cycle of Cantatas by J.S. Bach.
Outside of Quebec, he has performed with the Toronto鈥檚 Schola Cantorum, Arradia Ensemble, Thirteen Strings and the Pacific Baroque Festival Orchestra. In 2013 he was invited to play in the Ensemble Barrocade of Tel-Aviv鈥檚 Israeli tour of the music of J.S. Bach, and performs with the Bach Society of Minnesota since 2016 on both horn and trumpet.
As an early music soloist, he performed in Ensemble Caprice鈥檚 Vivaldi project, The Return of the Angels (Analekta, 2012). He can also be heard playing both trumpet and horn in the complete recordings of the Bach Cantatas by the Bande Montr茅al Baroque (ATMA Classique), a project which began in 2014.
Alexis also performs actively on the modern trumpet in various orchestral settings. He has performed as Principal trumpet with the Grands Ballets Canadiens, and also holds Principal trumpet positions with the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean since 2014, and with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivi猫res since 2017.
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Alexis Basque a compl茅t茅 sa formation acad茅mique au Conservatoire de Musique du Qu茅bec, o霉 il a re莽u sa formation de trompettiste et o霉 il a aussi eu ses premi猫res exp茅riences de composition et d'orchestration.
En voulant mieux comprendre les origines de la trompette, et se familiariser avec le jeu sur instrument d'茅poque (et 脿 l'approche historiquement inspir茅e au sens large), il entreprend l'apprentissage autodicacte de la trompette baroque en 2005. Il a pu, en 2011, aller approfondir cette approche au Mozarteum Sommerakademie de Salzbourg avec Susan Williams. Il a 茅t茅 par la suite initi茅 au jeu ''naturel'' des cuivres en c么toyant les trompettistes/cornistes Graham Nicholson et Jean-Fran莽ois Madeuf. Cette d茅monstration concr猫te et actualis茅e de la doublure instrumentale, telle que pratiqu茅e 脿 l'茅poque baroque, l'influence 脿 int茅grer ensuite le cor baroque et la tromba da tirarsi 脿 sa pratique artistique.
Il participe r茅guli猫rement aux concerts ou enregistrements des ensembles de musique ancienne les plus actifs et novateurs de Montr茅al: l'Ensemble Caprice, la Bande Montr茅al Baroque, les Id茅es Heureuses,le Theater of Early Music, la Nef et le Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montr茅al. Il participe aussi avec diff茅rents ensembles, 脿 l'int茅grale des Cantates de Bach 脿 la salle Bourgie du Mus茅e des Beaux-Arts de Montr茅al.
脌 l'ext茅rieur de la province, il a pu jou茅 avec la Schola Cantorum de Toronto, l'ensemble Thirtheen Strings, et le le Ottawa Bach Choir et le Pacific Baroque Festival Orchestra .Il a 茅t茅 invit茅, en 2013, 脿 joindre l'Ensemble Baroccade de Tel-Aviv pour une tourn茅e de concerts Bach en Isra毛l. Depuis 2016, il est r茅guli猫rement invit茅 脿 se produire avec le Bach Society of Minneapolis, au cor et 脿 la trompette.
Comme soliste en musique ancienne, il participe au deuxi猫me projet consacr茅 脿 Vivaldi avec l'ensemble Caprice, "le Retour des Anges" (Analekta, 2012). Depuis 2014, on peut l'entendre dans les parties de trompette et de cor de l'int茅grale des cantates de Bach avec la Bande Montr茅al Baroque, sous 茅tiquette ATMA Classique.
Poursuivant une carri猫re symphonique active, Alexis est 茅galement trompette-solo de l'orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean depuis 2014, a jou茅 pour l鈥橭rchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens de m锚me que l鈥橭rchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivi猫res, o霉 il est maintenant trompette- solo depuis 2017.
